juergen_hubert
4d ago
•
0%
@hanktank61 I'm really fascinated by how local folk legends form a "supernatural landscape" - real world places you can visit that have supernatural associations.
juergen_hubert
2w ago
•
100%
@onepict@chaos.social @oldladyplays@wargamers.social
Unfortunately, "reach" can be pretty important.
Let's say you are a user in, for example, #Pakistan. How many Pakistani Mastodon instances are there? One? Two? For a country of 240 million people?
When almost no one in your country uses the #Fediverse , using Mastodon exclusively means you have effectively isolated yourself from your community.
I was able to do a clean break from Twitter when it got bought by Elon Musk, but that was because I was in a relatively privileged position. There are plenty of people around here who are interested in folklore and table-top RPGs, and share similar backgrounds. I miss some people from Twitter, but not enough to remain active there.
Others do not have this privilege, and we should acknowledge that.
juergen_hubert
2w ago
•
100%
2/ As an addendum, I want to make clear that I have absolutely zero sympathies for the social media platforms and their owners themselves. In fact, I consider them to be a dire threat to civilization, as their algorithms and owners promote hatred and bigotry of all kinds.
What I want to stress is empathy for many of the users on these platforms. Most of them stay there for reasons that make sense to them, after all.
And "empathy" does not mean "agreement". But if you don't take the time to understand their points of view, you are unlikely to convince them to give the #Fediverse a try.
juergen_hubert
2w ago
•
100%
@oldladyplays@wargamers.social
I absolutely agree that X must be destroyed. I just don't think that berating X users for staying there is going to accomplish that.
We must make it easier for others to leave, and for that we must understand why they still stay there - and offer a welcoming off-ramp.
There is a lot of disdain here on #Mastodon and the #Fediverse for those who have chosen to stay on [#X](https://thefolklore.cafe/tags/X) / #Twitter and other social media platforms. And I think that this is not helpful. I mean, sure, in the case of governments, political leaders, and major news organizations, disdain away. But many activists and small-time business owners _depend_ on having a large reach and good networking for their activities, and this reach might simply not be feasible on the Fediverse - especially if their primary focus is on a demographic underrepresented around here (as the Fediverse skews heavily towards white Europeans and North Americans). Hating on these people accomplishes nothing useful - and worse, it contributes to the Fediverse's well-deserved reputation for snobbery, which has driven a lot of people away. So instead try empathy. Understand why such people make the choice to stay on other social media platforms, despite their problems. And instead of berating them for it, emphasize that these platforms will almost certainly get worse over time, due to the Enshittification cycle that all tech businesses touched by Silicon Valley venture capitalists must inevitably go through. Suggest that developing a Fediverse presence is a useful "Plan B" for their social media efforts - and that among social media platforms, the Fediverse alone has the potential to develop into something better over time.
juergen_hubert
2w ago
•
100%
@frankenswine@lemmy.world They do have some locations that OpenStreetMap has not (and vice versa), and they are more friendly for finding places with alternate spelling. There is a reason I check both.
Also, their linked images are useful for visualizing these locations. Though I think I saw an OpenStreetMap version with geotagged images once, but I can't find it again.
A surprisingly large part of my research of old German folk tales is trying to identify the places mentioned in these details. They are often not mentioned on Google Maps, although Open Street Maps frequently provides better results. But a particularly useful resource has been Arcanum Maps, which uses old survey maps from the 19th century or earlier as Google Maps layers - and these often do have period names for locations that have vanished from modern maps. This has been especially important for Silesia and other regions where German place names were common, but which now only use Polish names. If you are interested in historic maps, then check this site out! #cartography #history <https://maps.arcanum.com/>
We got lucky on our birdwatching trip to the coast. #wildlife #photography
juergen_hubert
1mo ago
•
100%
@HumToTable@sfba.social Depends a bit on the neighborhood.
While romance novels predominate in all of the six or so little free libraries within easy bicycling distance, only two are filled with them entirely.
The very best (for my purposes) is the one next to our local city theater - it almost always has books on history, culture, or travel.
juergen_hubert
1mo ago
•
100%
@Em@lsbt.me Hmmm. Hannover is my usual layover city when I travel by train to visit my father. Is the store you are referring to the one at the Limburgstraße 1?
If so, I might be able to check it out.
One of my compulsive habits is visiting local little free libraries and taking any #travel books or books about #history in the hopes of reading them one day and using them as inspiration for #ttrpg #worldbuiling . But the main tangible result is that I have run out of bookshelf space. Again. 😭 [https://bookrastinating.com/user/juergen_hubert](https://bookrastinating.com/user/juergen_hubert)
juergen_hubert
2mo ago
•
100%
@quicksand@lemmy.world https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderland_Kalkar
There's the "Creepy Amusement Park" vibe so beloved by horror movies, and then there's the "Creepy Amusement Park set in a Never-finished Nuclear Power Plant" vibe where I have ended up today. #photography #NuclearPower   
juergen_hubert
2mo ago
•
100%
@halla@fosstodon.org If you remember the name, I might check it put!
Sonnenuntergang hinter dem #Brocken . #photography #Harz